This is our last recipe blog of the year before our team takes a vacation. We wanted to end on a sweet one! Last week, we shared Christmas candy; this week, we’re writing about four low-carb Christmas desserts that are perfect for your holiday.
Remember that there are 12 days of Christmas, so even if you don’t have much company coming, Christmas doesn’t officially end until January 6th! You can take your time and enjoy whatever leftovers you have: there is no need to tackle every delicacy at once! Make one of these and enjoy a reasonable amount until it’s gone. The festive season isn’t over until you say it is — especially during these weird times. The holidays might not be typical, but that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy them.
With a smaller Christmas, you can give yourself permission to celebrate how you want! Now is the time to branch out from your regular recipes and try something new! Here are four great low-carb options that could become holiday staples in the future!
We are suckers for a yule log cake! It’s a soft fluffy balance of sponge and cream. This classic chocolate treat brings us back to our childhoods. Some recipes call for the cake to be iced. This one is presented with a shiny glaze and a dusting of “snow” in the form of sugar-free powered “sugar.” Or, you can use the frosting recipe of your choice. It’s up to you. We all have traditions that we hold near and dear — the icing on a yule log might be make-or-break in your kitchen, so you can make that decision. As presented, a slice has 53 calories, two grams of carbs and one gram of fiber. However, the cake is supposedly 20 slices. We disagree and think it’s 10, so we believe that the nutrition values are really 106 calories, four grams of carbs and two grams of fiber. Get the recipe.
If you have been cooking a lot recently, you might not want to spend much time in your kitchen, or have any interest in turning on your oven for a dessert. That’s fair. This is the year of a Christmas without rules! This pie takes a half hour to put together but at least three to four hours of chilling, so it isn’t something to make on the day you need it. It’s a great, low-effort treat when you want something sweet. It’s also wonderfully adaptable in how sweet you make it and how heavily peppermint it turns out! You can adjust it to your taste as you go, as nothing is raw! Just taste it as you work. A slice of the pie is 344 calories with 5.1 grams of carbs and 1.7 grams of fiber. Get the recipe.
We told you we love yule logs! We’ll try a swiss roll in lots of flavors, and this is another seasonal favorite. Coffee and pumpkin pair for a delicious, light cake that hits the spot. It has extra flavor from cinnamon, vanilla and ginger! Many sites and recipes will give you advice on how to get the perfect swirl when trying to make a roll without breaking the cake. This one tells you to use a tea towel under your parchment and to make sure your cake isn’t too warm or too cool. One person on our team shared the advice they got from their grandmother: if it all goes wrong when you are trying to roll it, you’re left with a mess of cake and filling, and no one has ever complained about that combination! A slice has 207 calories, 5.17 grams of carbs and 2.1 grams of fiber. Get the recipe.
We don’t usually make loaf cakes for Christmas. They don’t feel fancy enough. They’re usually something we have to go with coffee. But Christmas 2020 is not the normal Christmas, and anything goes! This delicious, easy recipe is perfect when we are aiming for a more low-key celebration. You can skip the frosting if you’d like to have this gingerbread for a snack instead of a dessert. It’s excellent gingerbread without the frosting, and is really delicious toasted! The icing and cake are listed on different pages of the site. You only need a half batch of the icing. A slice of the cake has 234 calories with six grams of carbs and four grams of fiber. Get the cake recipe here. And the frosting recipe here.
While these might be different than your usual Christmas desserts, they are all phenomenal options you should try! Give one a whirl while listening to your favorite Christmas carols this festive season!
